Court Chesser: Swamp buggy champion appeals battery conviction

Record-winning Swamp Buggy racer Amy Chesser was sentenced Monday to three years in a state prison and must serve two years of probation once she’s released.

Video courtesy of NBC-2

Amy Chesser (R) sits next to her boyfriend Troy Rodkey at the Second District Court of Appeal in Tampa, Fl. March 10, 2010. Photo/ David Mills

TAMPA - The Queen of the Swamp was back in a courtroom but out of the spotlight.

Dressed in a gray suit and pleated skirt and joined by her father and boyfriend, embattled Swamp Buggy racer Amy Lynn Chesser, 27, viewed oral arguments in her felony battery appeal from a gallery seat during a session of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Tampa on Wednesday.

Chesser, on bond pending the appeal, faces three years in prison from the conviction, which stems from a 2007 attack on Eliza Masco, the ex-wife of Chesser's boyfriend at the time. Chesser and Masco, 40, exchanged heated text messages days before meeting outside Masco's North Naples neighborhood with their boyfriends.

Masco suffered severe injuries from the encounter, including a fractured right eye socket, broken teeth and neurological damage. Chesser claimed Masco likely hit her head on a nearby truck, causing the injuries.

On Wednesday, Chesser attorney Donald Day argued that the trial judge made a handful of errors in prohibiting or limiting the cross-examination of witnesses and excluding evidence. Day dwelled on two alleged errors, that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Krier didn't allow cross-examination on Masco's plan to seek $69,000 in restitution — a financial motive for Chesser's conviction, he called it — and that Krier prohibited testimony on Masco's texts to her ex-husband regarding his testimony.

Krier had ruled the texts off-limits because they didn't affect the testimony of the witness, Brian Langford. Day said the texts spoke to Masco's credibility.

"With all due respect to the trial court, I think she missed the purpose, or the point, of the testimony," he said.

Assistant Attorney General Donna S. Koch called Chesser's trial fair, and she said Day was seeking to discredit Masco. She argued that Chesser was convicted not because Krier's rulings were erroneous, but because Day's case was lacking.

"It was not a particularly strong defense," Koch said.

A three-judge panel listened to the arguments in a hearing room at the Stetson University School of Law, and judges frequently interrupted both attorneys to ask questions. The hearing lasted roughly 45 minutes.

Judge Morris Silberman questioned whether evidence that Masco intended to claim $69,000 restitution — reimbursement for two years lost wages and bonuses due to her injuries — was admissible when she hadn't yet made the claim. A restitution hearing typically follows conviction.

"The question becomes should she have been able to bring out information suggesting financial motive," Silberman said.

Judge Crag C. Villanti asked Koch if it weren't OK to go ahead and allow the cross-examination, "because theoretically a restitution hearing would follow a conviction at some point in the future."

Koch gave no answer.

Day called Krier's decision to exclude Masco's text messages the "most significant error" during the trial. Villanti then asked the attorney why he failed to push Krier for a ruling when the judge brushed off his initial request to admit the evidence.

"Sometimes in the middle of a trial, when the court says move on, it's time to move on," Day answered.

"Never move on without getting a ruling," Villanti replied.

Chesser, accompanied by her father, Swamp Buggy racing legend Leonard Chesser, 70, and her boyfriend, Troy Rodkey, 29, remained silent during the hearing. She showed little reaction during arguments and declined comment at the hearing's conclusion. Day also declined comment, citing the ongoing appeal.